Thursday, April 30, 2009

A 4th place finish in the TPT

I got to the Twitter Poker Tour a little late tonight. I left the office in Santa Monica after 4:00 PM, and thought that I would have plenty of time to get home. But, apparently a Police officer riding a motorcycle was struck on the 10 Freeway, and LAPD answering an "Office Down" call shut down the 10 Freeway. So the surface streets were more packed than the non-moving freeway, and it took more than 2 hours to get home.

But when I did, I'd only missed a few rotations, and started the chipping up. I got to around $4k and then I couldn't really find a hand that would get me past that mark. I hovered there for a long time, and then slowly I dwindled as the blinds increased on the final table.

6 handed, I got lucky as I shoved with 6-6 and won a race against A-Q. I survived 2 more bust outs, and then ran KQ into AJ to be eliminated in 4th place. It was my first cash in the TPT in a few tournaments. I was definitely happy with the run.

Tomorrow should be a good game at Pablosplace. It's Traci's Birthday, and we should have 2 tables in action for poker. Also, I'll be taking the final order for Team7Deuce Shirts on Friday, as I want them to be back in time before the wedding, and definitely for Seven-Deuce Day.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Team7Deuce Puts a Bad Beat on Cancer

I am pleased to announce that every member of Team7Deuce has taken the 1% pledge to work with the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and will be donating 1% of all of our poker winnings to “Putting a Bad Beat on Cancer.” This is obviously a topic that hits very close to home, as my fiancĂ© Traci, put the ultimate Bad Beat on Cancer by surviving Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma with a successful Bone Marrow Transplant over 6 years ago. This announcement comes just days after her 6 year anniversary.

I had been chatting with co-founder Rafe Furst, a WSOP bracelet winner in the 2006 $1,500 Pot Limit Hold’Em event. I found out about his affiliation with the group and all of his efforts, and immediately took action by taking it to the home game just last night. Rafe, along with Phil Gordon had a tremendous idea at the 2003 WSOP that grew like wildfire.

“It dawned on us that if players pledged just one percent of their winnings to the Prevent Cancer Foundation as a tax-deductible donation,” explains Phil, “it would go a long way in reaching the public about the achievability of preventing cancer.” So they lobbied their friends in the poker community and the Bad Beat on Cancer initiative took off. Before they knew it, 80 players had pledged enough money to fund a promising research grant for an entire year.

Bad Beat on Cancer has grown exponentially since 2003. Thousands of amateur and professional players across the country and around the world are pledging to put a Bad Beat on Caner – from home leagues (like Pablosplace) on up to the World Series of Poker. The initiative grew even further when Phil and Rafe partnered with the Foundation to launch “I’ll Raise You A Million” – a year-long fundraising campaign beginning with the 2006 World Series of Poker, and ending with the 2007 Capitol Hill Bad Beat on Cancer Poker Tournament. Their $1 million goal was met in just 10 months!

I would encourage everyone to join me and my fellow members of Team7Deuce in donating 1% of their winnings to a charity foundation as instrumental as The Prevent Cancer foundation. The main goal behind their program is to one day, we can envision a future where cancer incidence and mortality will be significantly reduced through preventative measures. Their mission is carried out in 3 main ways:

- By funding research that helps us understand how to prevent cancer
- By educating the public about how to prevent cancer
- By reaching out to communities across the country through our resources, events and partnerships with other organizations.

To learn more about the Prevent Cancer Foundation, please visit http://www.preventcancer.org

Traci DOMINATES

They say that the sign of a great teacher is when you can teach someone to be better than you. While I’m reluctant to say that Traci is a better player than I am, the last few times we’ve had two hole cards, she’s lasted longer and been altogether dominant.

Last night I got an e-mail from Traci that said:

“I love you so much, oh yeah, I am so going to kick your butt in poker tonight! Xoxoxoxox”

Well, she did more than just talk the talk. I would say that she walked the walk, but she’s in a wheelchair, so maybe she rolled the roll??? (This is terrible, I know)

Traci dominated play at the table last night as we were 8 handed. After a couple of re-buys from Chris and from Andrew, Amber was the first to exit the table, followed by Chris, and then by me. I had played brilliantly up to that point and got a huge chip stack (about 1/3 of the chips in play), and Traci struck. I 4-bet from the button with AQ, and 4 players took a flop of Ah-8h-6h. The BB checked, and Traci bet out ¼ the pot. The late position caller folded, and I raised all in. BB folded, and Traci tanked before making the call with pocket 8’s. Her set ended up holding up, and that one still left me with about 50 or so chips. But then I doubled Jay (again with AQ, as his QJ proved much better when not one, but two J’s hit the board.

Traci would then double through Jay turning a flush, and getting Jay to call her all in with top two pair, and she then controlled about 60% of the chips in play with 5 players left. I would make my final stand (again with AQ) and was called by Jay who tabled pocket 8’s (again). An 8 hit the flop in addition to a K, a T on the turn gave me some outs. But the river was a brick and I was out in 6th.

Jordan would leave short stacked in 5th. Tim in 4th. Andrew was busted by Traci in one of the sickest hands I’ve seen here at Pablosplace. With blinds at 5-10, Andrew checked his option form the BB. The flop came A-3-5, and Traci bet 20. Andrew called. The turn was another 5, and Traci bet another 20. Andrew raised, and Traci moved all in. Andrew insta-called and tabled the flopped straight with 2-4. Traci tossed over K-5 for the set, and was way behind. But lady luck loved her on this hand as an A hit the board to pair it, and gave Traci’s boat the winning hand. Andrew was covered by Traci by a mere 2 chips (403 to 401), and Traci got a commanding heads up lead vs. Jay.

But that didn’t deter Jay as he attacked from the get go, winning several hands and doubling twice to take a serious chip advantage. But the lead would pass back and forth a total of 5 times over more than 150. Finally, with blinds at 20-40, the final hand was played. An All in by Traci, and a call by Jay produced Traci’s Kh-Js vs. Jay’s Qh-4h. The board ran out 3h-Ah-7s-8d-3s to give Traci’s K the best hand and the win. She definitely backed up her claim last night and played an altogether brilliant game.

Later today, I’ll have a big announcement up on Pablosplace, but now, I have to run to coach Kelli’s softball team. Later - P

Friday, April 24, 2009

Day 5 complete at the WPT Championship

With 10 players left, here are the seat assignments for today"

Seat 1 - Justin Young - 4,220,000
Seat 2 - Elky Grospellier - 1,965,000
Seat 3 - Bruno Fitoussi - 1,615,000
Seat 4 - Scotty Nguyen - 5,880,000
Seat 5 - Brian Rast - 3,025,000
Seat 6 - Eugene Katchalov - 2,385,000
Seat 7 - Shannon Shorr - 3,155,000
Seat 8 - Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 5,105,000
Seat 9 - Christian Harder - 4,650,000
Seat 10 - Ran Azor - 1,810,000

Players will resume today at Level 23, with blinds at $30,000/$60,000, 5,000 ante. They'll play till 6 players are remaining, and then call it quits. They'll resume 6 handed for the TV broadcast later.

Twitter Poker Mania!!!

So yesterday, I was in the office in Santa Monica. This is rare for me, as I’m generally in the field, but my boss has commissioned me with the task of restructuring the collections department in an effort to improve our receivables. So I spent the first half of the day “observing” our collections officer and determining “best practices” and what-not.

While doing so, I had the Tweetdeck opened and figured, why not register for the European Twitter Poker Tour, and put some more cash in the prize pool. I didn’t think that I’d be able to play the full event, because once my boss returned, I’d have to….ummm…focus on work (or at least make it look that way). So I minimized my screen and began to work on a project, and whenever my screen popped up to play, I played. Then, my boss came in and I made the decision to give my chips away. Trouble was, I was winning. I had one hand that I even said “here’s a gift” and moved in post flop with 8-4os, and no pair or draw on the board. The trouble is, I was called by two over cards that also didn’t pair, and the board turned an 8, and rivered a 4. I then bounced another player going all in with AJ vs. AT, and all of the sudden, I was the chip leader.

When my boss actually did enter, I closed Full Tilt down for a few minutes while we met, and then he left for lunch. So I fired it back up again and actually played poker. At this point, I was in pretty good shape. I made one more interesting gamble calling an All in that identified as a steal. I called with 9h-7h. I figured that it wasn’t too expensive and that my two cards were probably live. I was right as the button turned over A-2os, and I got lucky on the flop when a 7 hit, and luckier still when the turn produced another 7 locking that one up.

Heads up, I went against @SteveBrogan, and it only lasted a few hands. We were all in, on all of them I think, and I won 2 out of 3 to take down the first place prize. The final hand, both of us paired out 6 on the flop. @SteveBrogan moved and I called. He tossed over K-6, and I held A-6. So my kicker played and I won. My first TPT win! Pretty lucky, and awesome in the same breath.

When I wrapped up in the office, I hustled home for the US TPT and played very well early. I had Aces 3 times before the first break, and used them to chip up to the top 3 spots. From there, I pretty much cruised to the final table, taking a few pots here and there. I would eventually get bounced on a really dumb play, as I moved all in on a board of Ad-Jd-10c. I didn’t put my opponent on either an Ace or a J, and I was right about that. I had Jc-2c, and thought it was good. I was VERY wrong about that as he made the call, and showed K-Qos. I was drawing almost dead to the broadway straight, and said farewell in 7th place. But I was happy with my play throughout. Congrats are definitely in order to @Rhoegg, who was short stacked when I busted, but decided to turn it on, and took the event down to win a TPT T-shirt and a 1 month subscription to the DeucesCracked poker school. Pretty awesome!

So, two final table appearances in one day, and a win to boot. I was very happy with my play yesterday, and I hope that it carries over to the next few days of poker playing. The home game is a go for tonight. I’ll see you all here. Cheers, P

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Middle of the Day update for the WPT Championship

With Eric Lieu exiting in 19th place, they have consolidated the tournament to the final two tables. Players are now on Level 22 with blinds at $20,000/$40,000 ante $5,000. Here's how it stacks up for the 18 remaining players:

TABLE 1
Seat 1 - Ran Azor - 2,100,000
Seat 2 - Christian Harder - 4,000,000
Seat 3 - Bruno Fitoussi - 750,000
Seat 4 - Freddy Deeb - 1,650,000
Seat 5 - Blake Cahail - 450,000
Seat 6 - Jennifer Harman - 1,050,000
Seat 7 - Brian Rast - 2,700,000
Seat 8 - Yevgeniy Timoshenko - 1,450,000
Seat 9 - Andrew Lichtenberger - 1,300,000

TABLE 2
Seat 1 - Justin Young - 4,700,000
Seat 2 - Elky Grospellier - 950,000
Seat 3 - Ross Boatman - 1,400,000
Seat 4 - Sinan Yoyen - 900,000
Seat 5 - Owen Crowe - 1,500,000
Seat 6 - Jeff Madsen - 500,000
Seat 7 - Eugene Katchalov - 3,000,000
Seat 8 - Shannon Shorr - 2,200,000
Seat 9 - Scotty Nguyen - 2,400,000

WPT Championship Day 4 complete

At the end of Day 4, there are now 24 players remaining. It's been a pretty incredible tournament. I'm not sure on the seat assignments for day 5, but here are the chip counts.


Player Name-Chipcount
Eugene Katchalo-4,294,000
Christian Harder-3,083,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko-2,613,000
Justin Young-2,553,000
Brian Rast-1,931,000
Scotty Nguyen-1,823,000
Andrew Lichtenberger-1,663,000
Freddy Deeb-1,575,000
Ross Boatman-1,545,000
Owen Crowe-1,500,000
Jeff Madsen-1,265,000
Elky Grospellier-1,230,000
Shannon Shorr-1,200,000
Sinan Yoyen-1,137,000
Blake Cahail-1,083,000
Andy Miller-1,011,000
Ran Azor-859,000
Eric Liu-844,000
Jennifer Harman-821,000
Marco Johnson-814,000
Matt Hyman-433,000
Nick Binger-401,000
David Grey-322,000
Bruno Fitoussi-210,000

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

WPT Update

For anyone else that is as interested in this as I am, I've been following the WPT Championship (A NLHE $25k buyin event at the Bellagio) quite closely. Players yesterday completed a marathon Day 3, and are primed for Day 4.

This was an interesting format as 337 players paid the $25k to buy in, and everyone received $100k to start, with blinds at $25/50 on Level 1. Now THAT's deepstack poker.

Anyway, as Day 4 begins, 62 players remain. Blinds are at $4k-8k with $1k ante on level 15. Here are the chip counts and seat assignments.

Table 53
Quinn Do 211,000
Will Failla 305,000
Hyon Kim 338,000
Steve Billirakis 1,722,000
Eric Liu 688,000
Ron Levi 204,000
Jeff Madsen 712,000
Boris Becker 306,000
Steven Brecher 318,000

Table 54
Blake Cahail 1,059,000
Christian Harder 728,000
Philip Gurian 475,000
Owen Crowe 177,000
Phil Ivey 1,036,000
David Benyamine 268,000
Jimmy Fricke 259,000
Matthew Glantz 214,000
Michael Demichele 789,000

Table 55
Justin Young 732,000
Kathy Liebert 290,000
Andy Miller 604,000
Scotty Nguyen 557,000
Bertrand Grospellier 378,000
Shannon Shorr 120,000
Javed Abrahams 760,000
Mike Matusow 272,000
Matthew Hyman 1,663,000

Table 56
Markus Gonsalves 405,000
Eugene Katchalov 764,000
Steve Sung 392,000
Dutch Boyd 253,000
Sam Farha 90,000
Mark Seif 1,315,000
Jennifer Harman 828,000
Steven Fung 135,000
David Singer 1,116,000

Table 59
Jonathan Aguiar 489,000
Yevgeniy Timoshenko 464,000
Ulises Roman 622,000
Jimmy Ngoc Tran 177,000
Nenad Medic 1,306,000
David Grey 406,000
Cody Slaubaugh 377,000
Ran Azor 388,000
Barny Boatman 534,000

Table 60
Ross Boatman 456,000
Sinan Yoyen 323,000
Fred Bonyadi 208,000
David Baker 952,000
Chris Ferguson 338,000
Naseem Salem 296,000
Andrew Lichtenberger 664,000
John Martin 418,000

Table 62
Chad Batista 515,000
Marco Johnson 553,000
Freddy Deeb 932,000
Chris Bell 604,000
Liv Boeree 299,000
Nick Binger 1,036,000
Bryan Rast 365,000
Evan Mcniff 234,000
Bruno Fitoussi 286,000

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Poker Host

So last week, I was watching twitter when I caught wind of a $10 trivia contest hosted by Pokerhost (http://www.pokerhost.com). The trivia question was one that I knew, so I answered and I won the $10. Way cool.

So I created an account on Pokerhost’s domain, uploaded their software and gave it a try. I used my $10 balance to buy into a couple of $2 games, and I liked what I saw. The gaming experience is simple and easy, and the there aren’t as many players on the site as some of the other mega sites (ie. Stars or Tilt). So with smaller tournament fields, and a smaller S&G’s, there are more opportunities to win. I’ve played in a couple of Double or nothing S&G’s and I’ve had pretty good luck (albeit, the Bad beat monster did rear it’s ugly head as I had AA cracked by KK and then the next hand KK cracked by T-T. But lets be honest, this is me we’re talking about, so it was bound to happen).

All in all, I’d encourage you to give Pokerhost a shot. I think that if you’re like me, you’ll enjoy the experience. And give @TeamPokerHost a follow on Twitter. Maybe you can win some free dough too!!!

Friday, April 17, 2009

I got crushed by Andy Bloch

On Wednesday, a group of us from Team7Deuce decided to make a run at the Noon’er at the Bike. Jordan, Tim, and I all made the trek, and Traci was feeling well enough to give it a go as well. It was awesome.

I busted first of our group, running into trouble early by getting beat by a full house. But I busted getting my chips in good. A guy 4 bet pre-flop, and I called it from the button with Ah-Th. The flop came out Qh-9h-3h. Action checked back to the guy who opened with the 4-bet, and he moved all in. I made the call, and everyone folded. He tabled Qs-9s. The turn bricked, and the river fell the 9d and I was done before level 2 had completed.

It was very easy to rail on the rest of our group though as Traci, Tim, and Jordon all sat at the same table. Jordan would be the next to go on the last hand before the first break. He re-raised the guy to his right, and when action folded back to him the guy re-raised again enough to put Jordan all in. Jordan tilted a little and made the call with 9-9 only to run into K-K, and his day was done. Shortly after the break, Tim’s day was done. I missed the hand going to get food, but by the time that I came back, he was railing on Traci.

Traci made a great deep run out of it too. She totally outplayed a guy by check raising a flopped set of 3’s on a board of 9-6-3, she checked from the SB, and the UTG player opened. Action folded to Traci who raised enough to put him all in, and he called off all his chips with J-9. She then took a great pot with AK shortly after the 2nd break, and rode those chips all the way to a 26th place finish. A very respectable finish despite the fact that it was short of the money. She outlasted all of us, and most of the 168 player field.

Last night’s TPT was a very short one for me. On my 3rd hand, I woke up in middle position with QQ. I 3-bet it, and got re-raise by none other than Andy Bloch (in case you’re wondering who Andy is check here http://www.andybloch.com/gl/pub/index.php). I should have known better than to try and play my worst hand, but I haven’t learned yet I guess. Anyway, the SB came along for the ride, and I decided to re-raise about half my stack. Andy re-raised again, and the SB called. I moved the last few of my chips, Andy and the SB called. The flop came out 7h-Ad-10h, and I knew that I was toast. Andy moved all in for his last 180 and the SB obviously made the call. But I was down to 2 outs when Andy tabled KK. And given the fact that neither of the other Q’s showed up on the turn or river, I was out in 41st place (of 41 runners). Andy would Twitpic the hand from his flight back to Las Vegas from JFK (http://twitpic.com/3fkgn).

That’s about it for the last couple of days. We look good to go for the home game tonight. Oh, and a big announcement is coming on Pablosplace on Wednesday. I’m very hush-hush about it now, but if you e-mail me, I’ll send you all the details. (I’m such a tease, I know).

Saturday, April 11, 2009

A couple good nights

So, I finished the TPT event on Thursday in 6th place, bubbling out in a bad way. I played pretty tight throughout the tournament very unintentionally, and it seemed to work.

Early in the tournament, I caught aces, and used them to more than double up to over $3200, but I really got stuck there after that, and slowly began to dwindle. But it wasn't until the final table that the dwindling took place.

Eventually, with 6 players left, I made a move to steal with A8o, and got raised by the SB. I was pretty much committed at that point and put the rest of my chips in, only to be called by AK, and my night was done.

I did enough to pass two people on the TLB, and finished well within my goal of top 3. I'm really proud of my second place finish on the Leader Board standings, and can't wait for Season 3 to get under way. Congrats to @Treystill for winning the Season 2 leaderboard, and congrats to @SteveBrogan for 3rd place, @Rhoegg for 4th, and @72Suited for 5th. It was a great season.

Also, congrats to @Mac_Zealot for winning the season 2 Finale and the big cash.

Then, last night there were only 5 players at the home game. Some last minute cancellations, and some prior obligations led to the smaller turnout, but we had a lot fun playing anyway. Brendan was the first to go out last night, and was followed by Chris. Tim nursed his short stack until the end getting eliminated by Amber in 3rd. Heads up between Amber and I lasted for quite a few hands. I came into the Heads up as the chip leader, and won more than my share of pots.

The final hand came with me in the BB, and Amber made the 5/10 blinds 20, and I re-raised to 80. Amber called, and we took a flop of J-4-3. Amber pushed all in, and I thought for a little bit before making the call with A-9. She tabled A-2, and the board bricked out giving me my 2nd win in as many weeks.

Next week, I have the TPT on Thursday as Season 3 kicks into gear, and the home game at Pablosplace looks good to go.

Also on Wednesday, it looks like we could have a small group going down to the Bike to play in the nooner. Right now, Tim, Jordan, and I are in it, and Chris is a maybe. Cheers, P

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Catching up

I haven't been really blogging much of late, and I looked at Pablosplace and noticed that I've been talking much more of recent the results of my online poker playing, and much less about the home game. This kind of bummed me out.

While the truth of the matter is that I play a lot more online then I do live games, the site was originally intended to document my poker gaming. In the beginning, it was just video games and the Friday Night game at Pablosplace. But now, I do a lot more playing, both live and on the web. I think I just need to be more diligent about documenting it all. I don't want it to spiral out of control. This really helps me stay centered, and I think that I need that from time to time.

So this week has been a busy one, with two trips to The Bike, Two large fields, and a Pablosplace game that was a ton of fun.

I'll begin with the home game that saw 10 players again to the table. Amber, Chris, Robert, Andrew, Tim, Tay, Jay, Traci and myself all made it there, and a long time return by Brendan, who hadn't made a home game since the Encino days. It was nice to have him along as he made a few wonderful plays en route to chipping his way to a 3rd place finish. Traci and I would go heads up, and I had a 3 to 1 lead in the heads up. I basically just leaned on her until eventually I would turn a flush and get all of her chips in for the win. It was a great night that saw me come from behind on two massive luckfests to win. I was all in for my life twice against Tay, but managed to win both hands. The first was and all in from UTG with Ah-10s. Tay was in the big blind and made the call with QQ. The board ran out with the 4th spade on the river giving me an eventually flush and the double up.

Later, I would move with KK and Tay would call with A-x. The flop produced an Ace, but the turn delivered the case K, and I would cripple Tay, who would go out in 4th place. It was a really fun night, and I'm happy to see the home game produce back to back 10 player tables. I'd love to keep that momentum going.

For the two Bike runs, I went last Wednesday down to see if I could get into the daily nooner, but got there too late. But I stumbled into a $60 S&G, and figured that I'd try my luck. It turns out, this game was nothing but luck, as you began with $500 chips, and blinds of $25/$25 increasing every 15 minutes. Whoever got their chips in good first was going to win, so I go aggressive early, and it worked. I flopped top two pair on a guy with A9, and he missed his flush to double me. Then I flopped an Ace with AJ sooted to win another big pot. From there, I stuck at around 1500 chips until I finished in 2nd place. It was a $160 cash, and I was happy with it.

Then yesterday, after my lunch appointment canceled, I met Tim at the Bike for the nooner. I would outlast him in the tournament by about 20 people, but I misplayed my final hand something awful to bust. I was playing very tight throughout the tournament, and had chipped up finally after the second break with KK. But in the final hand, I raised from the small blind with 8-8 to 1500 with blinds at 200/400 ante 50. The BB folded and so did the first limper, but the second guy came along. The flop came out 10s-9c-8s, and I got nervous and checked it. I should have shoved right there with my set because I was best. My opponent got to see the free turn by checking behind me and the J fell on the turn. I decided that apparently now that I was behind, it was a good time to shove and pushed all in. He insta-called with his AQ, and I was done in about 50th. Despite playing well through the early stages of the tournament, I deserved to go out on that hand. My favorite thing of this tournament was the giant yell from one of the tables. A guy moved all in pre-flop with 2-3os, and got called by KK. The flop came out 2-2-3, and the guy with KK just went berserk. It was hilarious.

My two good Internet runs came in the Midnight Madness where I played my way into a 70th place finish. With a field size of 1967, I was very happy with my play, and with my finish. I ended up with a $33 cash in it, and was quite pleased with it.

The second came in a free roll tournament that I found last second. There were 2700 entries and I played great. Eventually, I would bust in the money in 25th place. It was only a $2 cash, but for no money put in, I was happy with it.

My FTP bankroll has taken a monster beating this week though. Despite some really good cashes (the Midnight Madness and an $11 45 player S&G 2nd place finish). I had to pay $10 to @BrooklynBeast for the Twitter NCAA09 March Madness pool. My brackets finished both 2nd and 3rd, but it was a winner take all. Had Louisville beaten Michigan St. in the elite 8, I would have won it all, but alas it was not to be. At the moment, my FTP balance sits at just over $13 and my PS balance is at $18.

My plan is to focus on gaining more money at a very slow rate. I've been very successful in the $1.25 Matrix tournaments, and cash in almost all of them in one way or another. They aren't terribly profitable though, as my best result to date came from a $3.80 prize. But the odds are good in cashing as you play 4 single table S&G's at the same time with the same players. Each time you outlast someone you get a point in the matrix pool, and if you KO that person you get 2 points in the matrix pool. Additionally, you get 2 bonus points for any individual S&G match you win. In the end, each S&G pays out the top 3 finishers, and then you also get paid if you finish in the top 3 of the matrix pool. The prizes are smaller though, but I've seemed to slowly work my way in an upward direction playing them, whereas It's been quite the opposite at the other tourney's I'm playing in.

Tonight is the Season 2 Finale of the Twitter Poker Tour. I'm pumped up for it like you can't believe. I really want to win this one. I feel like I'm completely outclassed as a poker player at these things. I don't think that I'm even in the same league as most of the players, yet I'm sitting in 4th place on the Leaderboard. I would love just 1 win, and this would be a great time to do it. In truth, I'd like to finish either 2nd or 3rd in the overall standings and win a free shirt. If not, then I'd hope to upgrade to a hoodie.

Lastly, the home game at Pablosplace looks good for tomorrow. I hope that we see the same kind of turnout that we've had the last couple of weeks. I really enjoy having the full table, and maybe we'll move to some 2 table action. If this gets more regular, maybe I'll buy another set of chips. An maybe, just maybe, I can talk Traci into letting me turn the garage into a poker room yet. Now THAT's a long shot and a half.

Ok, done with my book now. And I feel all caught up. Cheers, P

Friday, April 3, 2009

A final table at the TPT

Last night I managed to play my way into the Final Table at the Twitter Poker Tour event on Full Tilt. I came into the tournament as the Bounty, and got very lucky early to chip up to over 3k. But I got stuck there for the most part, and went card dead after the first break.

At the final table, I re-raised a 3-bet from the BB with 6-6, and shoved it all in. Short stacked, I figured that if I was going to play the hand, I needed to represent a monster. Trouble was, it was an easy call by Gemgirl6 who tabled KK, and I was done in 9th place.

It was a little disconcerting given the fact that I came into the event in 2nd place on the Leaderboard Standings, made the final table, and then proceeded to drop 2 places in the standings. Great runs by @SteveBrogan (who cashed in 4th place), moved him up to 2nd in the Leaderboard standings. And a win by @Treystill vaulted him to the top spot from outside the top 10. It was @Treystill's second TPT win this season.

The TLB Standings are VERY close heading into Thursday's final event of the season on Pokerstars. The top 4 places are separated by less than 31 TLB points. Here's the top 10 as it currently stands.


POS NAME POINTS
1 taz31362 598.25
2 Steve_Treys/StevieTrips 575.80
3 rhoegg 572.10
4 Fleapid 566.60
5 Zonetrap (pokerplasm) 466.00
6 gemgirl6/LaBangBang 446.00
7 MustangFund 438.00
8 ungarop 424.00
9 sotied 416.80
10 cprpoker (geoffm33) 404.40

I'm feeling pretty confident that I should finish in the prizes as the top 5 positions are awarded a prize, but when it comes to poker, anything is possible. I would like to win an event, as I've yet to do that. My best so far is a 3rd place finish way back in the first event, but I've been pretty consistent for the most part throughout the season. A victory would be super sweet!

Congrats again to the cashes, and a special congrats to @Treystill for the victory. See you guys again on Pokerstars this Thrusday for the finale!